Algiers house fire blamed on lightning

Standing in the rear yard of his two-story Algiers home on Thursday, Robert Jamison Jr. was still trying to comprehend a new reality where his home of two decades is now a fire-damaged husk. But what made the new circumstances even harder to grasp was the cause of the blaze that changed the lives of Jamison and his relatives. It wasn't faulty wiring or an unattended saucepan. Instead, the family's home on Oxford Place was damaged by a lightning strike that initially had Jamison wondering if someone had dropped a bomb in his neighborhood.

View full sizeAllen Powell II, The Times PicayuneA lightning strike caused the fire that burned Robert Jamison Jr.'s house on Oxford Place in Algiers. August 16 2012

"It shook the house," Jamison said of the lightning strike that ignited his home.

He said he was only certain a bomb hadn't detonated when he went outside and saw that none of his neighbors' homes had been demolished.

Jamison said the lightning strike happened shortly after 5:30 p.m. Wednesday while he watched television downstairs. He said the family suddenly heard a "loud boom" and the entire home started shaking. When they rushed outside, Jamison said he saw flames shooting from the attic. Everyone quickly evacuated the building and called the New Orleans Fire Department.

Firefighters arrived at the home about 5:51 p.m. and found flames coming from both sides of the structure, according to a fire official. Firefighters determined that the blaze was likely started by natural causes, and reported no injuries. They did report that the National Weather Service confirmed lightning activity in the area.

Jamison said he and his wife shared the home with their two daughters and a grandson. None was upstairs when the lightning strike occurred. He said it was a terrible feeling to see those flames coming from his house, particularly after the immediate shock of the lightning strike.

"Why me?" Jamison said he wondered when the fire occurred. "Having your house on fire you just know your life is going to change."

According to the National Lightning Safety Institute, the odds of a home being struck by lightning are about 1 in 280,000. Last month, a Mandeville home was struck by lightning, and burned as well.